Tag Archives: vogue

fashion

row your boat through the oceans deep and wide

Whenever I get my hands on a new magazine, I have a very particular routine. On my first round, I simply take in the aesthetics of each page and might read a header or two; second round, I read anything that particularly captures my attention, but only skim-read as I take the pages in again; third round, I read it cover to cover. So, having divulged my obsessive routine (one of many, I assure you), I thought I’d take you on a little tour. This time, it’s Vogue September 2011: Round One. These are the beautiful aesthetics which stood out to me on first sight in my first round (and, incidentally, are the reason I love Vogue).

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life

space travels in my blood, there ain’t nothing i can do about it

Today consists mostly of homemade strawberry and apple smoothies – my new obsession, don’tcha know. I panic sometimes about not eating enough fruit (I panic sometimes about a lot of things), so smoothies are the current solution. I’ve got major amounts of reading to catch up on: both Saturday and Sunday’s newspapers, plus the as yet unopened copies of Vogue and Harper’s beside my bed. That doesn’t look like it’s going to happen today though as I’m also right in the middle of an application form, which will no doubt turn out to be fruitless (me, cynical? Never.) I’ve also got to work later, so hopefully I’ll read something when I eventually fall into bed. Rediscovering The Only Ones – Another Girl, Another Planet, has added some much need joy to my day though. I was once infatuated with this song but it seemed to slip off the radar somewhere along the line and I haven’t listened to it for years – you’ll be pleased to know it’s still as good as the first time I heard it. Just to further complicate my day, I keep googling potential new haircuts (I’m just flirting with the idea) and Chantal Goya is the only one who seems to have it just right. We’ll see about that though. Cor, this is a long old paragraph. Smoothies and reading and applications and work and songs and haircuts. Whatever next, eh?

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fashion

we’ll still be best friends when all turns to dust

It can seem, at times, as if the task of putting together a fashion magazine might appear a little like Nero’s proverbial fiddling while Rome burns… Fashion is one of the great pleasures in life and it is clear that, no matter how difficult the times, the urge, for many of us, to make the most of how we look is primal… As countries struggle to right themselves in this period of extreme turmoil, I hope ‘Vogue’ provides a welcome dose of escapism and inspiration – while also being, like fashion, a product of the age. – Alexandra Shulman

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fashion

got a tv set and a radio for seven shillings a week, shangri-la

Sunday. My favourite. Woke up slightly groggy, but a bacon buttie sorted me right out. Gonna head out soon to get the paper and other essential supplies, then come home and set up camp for the afternoon. Lahvely.

But first, as promised, I’m going to give you a sneaky look into another of my bookshelf gems. And in the spirit of continuity it’s going to be another Vogue one. This time it’s called ‘Vogue Fashion’ and is basically just a chronological look at all the designers who’ve been significant in Vogue since the 1900s. It’s a rather brilliant book, the passing of time it chronicles is endlessly fascinating (plus I can’t believe how 90s the the 90s look, if you know what I mean). It’s bit of a bible really. Enjoy!

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fashion, photography

when the morning comes and the battle is won

I have decided it’s about bloody time I shared some of my bookshelf with you. Mostly because I’ve stopped being lazy and have actually set up the scanner on the desk (as opposed to sitting idly on the shelf under a pile of unopened letters – I dont like to move it for fear of unearthing the gathering dust) but also just because it’s packed with some of my favourite images and photographers and fashions. I’m sorry it’s taken so long to get this hard-copy onto my blog, but here it is – the first instalment for your viewing pleasure.

I shall start with ‘Unseen Vogue’, a little treat that found its way into my Christmas stocking this year (thanks to my boy!). It’s an insight into Vogue’s unpublished archives; the photographs that didn’t quite make it for one reason or another, but, as you will see, could quite easily have made it and could feasibly make up the catalogue of iconic images we refer to all the time in our blogs. They are, after all, Vogue shoots and Vogue photographers, Vogue stylists and Vogue models, and in that respect deserve our attention. Some of the images are nostalgic and poignant, catching models when they weren’t doing what they were supposed to – you know, yawning or with their arm in a funny position or just speaking or not looking as picture-perfect as the pages of Vogue dictate.

Alexandra Shulman says in the foreword: Unseen Vogue is a pictorial history of the magazine, bound together by many of these untold tales. The images it includes are not simply images from Vogue shoots, but pictures that testify to the labyrinth of labour that must be negotiated from conception to publication. In every contact sheet there are 100 decisions; in every crop there is concerned debate……. The question that returns again and again is, what would I have done had I been faced with those pictures on my desk? In this collection there are some images that I fervently hope I would have had the foresight to publish – even though at the time they would have seem unsettlingly avant-garde. There are, too, variations of a published image that I’m not sure I would have published at all.

Like Shulman, I have to say I do wish some of these images had made it (and you will see why) but I’m glad that this book has enabled me to see them, despite their original fate.

Barbara Goalen by John Deakin, 1951
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Coat by Dior from the Paris collections, attributed to Henry Clarke, 1950
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‘The contemporary look’ by Anthony Denney, 1955
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Jean Shrimpton by David Bailey, 1962
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‘Shophound’ by Michael Cooper, 1965
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Jean Shrimpton by David Bailey, 1965
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Ursula Andress by Brian Duffy, 1966
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Twiggy (an unpublished cover shot) by Just Jaeckin, 1967
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I’m getting a bit scan-happy here, aren’t I. I’m going to stop now. I’m sure that’s enough of a taster, although I’d love to share the whole book with you for each page carries its own merit. I really love it because it teaches you to constantly look behind an image; I can’t read Vogue these days without wishing I could see the hundreds of beautiful mistakes.

I promise to share something else from my bookshelf with you very soon. Ta-ta for now.

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